The Family Business
by Aaron Hawke
Summary: Back alleys are the kind of place where both nothing and anything are known to happen. At the tip of a hat what's ordinary can become extraordinary and what's unbelievable can become commonplace. Anything can come out of this hat and anything can walk into it as well.
1. Chapter 1

The Family Business

Chapter 1

Back alleys are the kind of place where both nothing and anything are known to happen. At the tip of a hat what's ordinary can become extraordinary and what's unbelievable can become commonplace. Anything can come out of this hat and anything can walk into it as well. A back alley is the kind of place where you might be surprised who's there, but if you're there then you're never surprised. A place where the expected and unexpected meld together so well that they're often indiscernible from each other.

It was in this kind of shady, mysterious, and fantastic place that a certain group worked their magic, but even after that magic had left the bonds it had forged remained. Those bonds that could only be shared amongst the motley crew to which I am referring are the center of this story. A story after their first adventure, but long before their last.

(********)

The slumped shoulders of a boy shifted through the crowd. He had returned to the bustling city of tokyo in order to take over a coffee shop and take online classes to get a degree. His parents had refused to help him out with college even though his name had been cleared of all charges against him. Several years ago, the young man recalled, he had been wrongly convicted for battering an important political figure, but after many hard fought battles and several twists of fate his name had been cleared. During that time he lived in Tokyo and in one year it had become more of a home than anywhere else to him.

The young boy had forged friendships here and even freed society from its own shackles. However, by doing so they had lost their own ability to change hearts and gone from the international myth "The Phantom Thieves of Hearts" back to teenagers.

The boy chuckled to himself as he recalled their triumph and "disbandment" that had lasted until Haru's friend had needed help and they turned their thieving abilities toward being new-age meddlesome kids for a trip, but since then they had all returned to their lives.

"It is nostalgic isn't it Akira?" Came a small voice from the dark haired boy's bag, "coming back here where it all began."

"Yeah, hard to believe it's been a year." Akira agreed quietly as he walked toward the platform stop to Yongen-jaya.

"So much has happened in everyone's lives," Morgana reported, "Ryuji rejoined the track team and managed to get into college on a scholarship."

"Haha yeah he does it all for him mom, such as softy underneath his attitude." The dark haired boy laughed to himself as his "cat" Morgana purred in agreement.

"Lady Ann's career is getting a little more attention too." The talking cat noted as they passed a magazine rack with several issues featuring Ann Takami before boarding the subway.

"She's well on her way to being who she wanted to be," The black haired boy commented absentmindedly as the train car started to move along, "I'm pretty sure she said still going to college first though."

"How admirable." Morgana cooed in a purr-like manner.

"Yeah, Yusuke is getting a little more attention in the art industry too. Isn't he going to art school in Tokyo as well?" Akira continued ignoring Morgana's purring as the train came to a stop.

"Yeah, but that's not surprising, what really surprises me is that Futaba is going to school now." Morgana recalled in legitimate shock as they walked from the train station..

"I'll believe that when I see it." Morgana replied skeptically, "How is Haru doing with her coffee business?"

"Hmm…" Akira recalled, "Last I heard she was still juggling the family company and school. She's been swamped recently from what I gather."

Familiar faces interrupted their conversation as they welcomed Akira Kurusu back to Yongen. Both Akira and Morgana had sent their stuff to Leblanc ahead of time, so they decided it would be fun to go see how the neighborhood was holding up. The shop owner tried to sell him a knife, but Akira declined with an awkward laugh.

"We should head home, Sojiro is probably wondering where you are at this point." Morgana said as he poked his head out of Akira's bag.

Agreeing silently, the two started to walk home, they continued chatting about all the people they had seen again and had small talk with. This backstreet community was his home and being back felt refreshing.

"Oh yeah," Morgana started as they approached the corner in front of Leblanc, "Did you ever hear how Makoto was doing in college? She had an internship with the police department over the summer so you didn't get to see her last summer."

Akira was about to respond, but completely forgot as they rounded the corner to see Makoto herself just getting off of her motorcycle. She took off her helmet and shook out her chestnut brown hair.

"It's longer than before." Akira thought to himself as he looked at his former second in command with his mouth slightly agape.

Seeing the look on his friends face Morgana hopped out of the bag and ran into Leblanc as a couple regulars left. Leaving the two with their eyes locked on each other.

Makoto wore her signature black tights with a white blouse beneath a new sleek blue jacket she had gotten for riding her motorcycle. Akira thought it fit her and certainly didn't look bad. Akira thought to himself that she looked better than he remembered but tried not to let his mind dwell too much on it.

"If you just keep staring and don't say anything i'm gonna get embarrassed…" Makoto blushed indicating that she already was embarrassed at the boy's expression.

She looked him up and down in return as he awkwardly blushed and broke eye contact as he tried to gather his thoughts. It had been a little over a year since they had all gone a trip to help Haru's friend out, and in that time Akira had maintained himself well. He was still lean, but definitely more muscular than the scrawny boy she had stalked through central street. His dark hair was as shaggy as ever hiding his face the same way it always had. He wore his usual black jacket and white shirt with a pair of sleek slacks that accented his slim figure.

Makoto blushed even more as she realized that she had begun checking her old teammate out. Both stood awkwardly for a few moments before a bell rang on the nearby coffee shops door. Out of the coffee shop spilled a rugged blonde haired boy and an attractive blonde girl. They collapsed over top of each other.

"What do you think you're doing?!" shouted the boy.

"I was trying to listen just like you!" the girl shouted back not realizing that the people they were eavesdropping on were now very much aware.

"Will you two ever quit being so loud," complained a slender boy that appeared in the door frame, "I'm currently trying to capture the wonderful flavor texture of this coffee in order to improve my artistic representation of…"

"No one cares you stupid Inari." interrupted a loud mouthed redhead, "You're spoiling the moment."

The latter two fumed at each other as a sweet voice called from inside, "I believe you're all ruining both the moment and the surprise."

A chorus of bickering erupted from the group as Makoto sweat dropped. She turned to apologize to Akira, but as she turned she was greeted with a sight she hadn't seen in awhile. Akira was cracking up at the botched surprise party for him. His laughter was so contagious all the bickering stopped and the whole group started laughing as well.

"Welcome home!" came the voice of an older man from inside.

"Some things never change with this group…" Morgana sighed.

(********)

Hey guys this is the first chapter, I have a general idea of where I'm going with this (this time) so I hope you all enjoy. I'll do my best to update regularly for you all! Any feedback is welcome even if it's harsh. This chapter has been a lot of exposition so I'll try to get out of it in the next chapter or so. Stayed tuned! (sorry for any errors I've read it a couple of times, but I'm pretty tired so I could've missed something.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As the laughter died down everybody filed back inside and took up their old seats as if they had just been sitting there yesterday. The shop was open, but all the regulars had already come and gone. Everyone settled in and started recounting what new had occurred in their lives and news they had heard about.

As this discussion carried on Akira's mind began to wander to all the people he needed to visit and greet before ending with one person he couldn't chat with again. His foil and rival, Goro Akechi, was a twisted soul, but one Akira had wanted to help in the end. Chatter continued on around him as Akira sunk deeper and deeper into the depths of thought.

"I'm telling you guys that my legs will carry me through college and I won't even NEED to study!" Ryuji insisted loudly drawing a sigh from Makoto.

"You're such an idiot." Ann groaned, "Even if you got a scholarship you still need to keep your grades up or you'll get kicked out."

"Eh?! For real?" the blonde haired boy exclaimed, "Ah well I bet you that Akira thinks I can do it!"

Makoto looked over to see Akira spaced out before giving him a slight nudge to bring him back to the present.

"What?" Akira asked as he shook his daze.

"You think my legs will carry me through college right?" Ryuji asked again not seeming to notice his friend's delayed entry.

"Yeah sure, but only if you mean they'll carry you through the campus to the library and your classes." Akira wittily replied drawing a laugh from everyone except the blonde haired butt of the joke.

"It appears as though you have been defeated." Yusuke chuckled.

"You really got told off." Futaba agreed with a laugh.

"And who exactly did we just get to start going to school in the first place?" Sojiro pointed out before playfully knocking the red haired girl upside the head.

"The-there were circumstances behind that you old geezer!" Futaba shouted back in embarrassment.

As another chorus of laughter erupted the clock struck ten. This caused Haru to poke her head out from Sojiro's rare coffee bean stash and sigh with minor disappointment.

"I suppose that would be our cue to start heading our separate ways." The polite girl said.

As everyone said their good byes Sojiro began reaching for one of the dishes left by the group before being stopped by Akira's voice, "I'll clean up!"

"You sure?" The older man replied.

"Yeah, just consider it a thank you." The dark haired boy said before beginning to wash the dishes he already had.

Sojiro still looked unsure so Makoto spoke up, "Don't worry I brought my bike here so I can stay and help him out."

Now reassured by this gesture, Sojiro left the two alone and returned home in order to make sure that the door was unlocked for Futaba when she got back from walking with everyone to the station.

Morgana watched in silence for a little, as he had for most of the night before hopping down and scurrying up the stairs.

"I wonder what's up with him." Akira mentioned casually, "there was barely a meow out of him all night."

"I noticed that too," Makoto replied, "maybe being back with everyone made him wish he was human."

"Hm maybe." The boy responded before handing Makoto another dish to put away.

"What about you?" Makoto inquired casting the boy a sideways glance before returning her gaze back to the set of drying dishes, "You seemed a little off tonight too."

"Probably just tired from the trip here." He lied.

The brunette stopped and looked at the boy, she stood starring him down with her red eyes until he stopped washing dishes and looked at her.

"Is that all?" She challenged.

Akira hesitated before he replied, honestly this time, "I just sort of started thinking about old times and about what happened on the ship and all."

Unsure of what to say both returned to the dishes quietly and not another word was spoken until they were done. Makoto then let herself collapse in a bar stool as Akira stood on the other side cleaning the few remaining glasses Sojiro had picked up when he decided that having a bar at night during the week could prove profitable as well.

"Sorry if I hit a sore spot by making you tell me." Makoto said as she refused to make eye-contact.

"Sorry for lying." Akira responded, "guess that makes us even."

Makoto, shocked at this reply looked up to see Akira looking at her with a warm smile. In that moment the young and reserved girl felt her face flush red and her heart skip a beat. She quickly stood and started moving towards the door.

"I should probably be going." The embarrassed and confused girl supplied as an explanation.

"Let me see you out." Akira offered.

"That's ok!" Makoto quickly assured, "See you around!"

With that the bell on the door jingled twice before falling silent again. The thrum of a motor powered up before slowly fading back into the night time noise of the back streets of Yongen.

"Yeah," Akira finally said with a little disappointment, "see you around."

The boy flipped the sign to closed and locked up the shop before heading upstairs to his bedroom in the attic. Not much had changed, even all of his old decorations were still up, but the place was cleaner than expected. Akira walked over to his desk to see a card on it with a little UFO sticker on it. The note read "WELCOME HOME."

"Oddly sentimental for Futaba." Came a small voice from the bed.

"Yeah, it was probably Sojiro's idea." The dark haired youth replied with a chuckle before setting the note back down, "So what's up with you?"

"What do you mean?" Morgana replied feigning ignorance as he made room for Akira on the bed.

"Cat had your tongue the whole night." The boy replied teasingly.

"Haha very funny, but I'm not a cat!" Morgana responded.

"Did something happen?" Akira probed again.

"No," the definitely-not-a-cat caved, "I just sort of wished I could turn into a human and join you all in going off to school and work and living a life."

"You live life now." The boy answered as he changed into his loungewear while attempting to comfort his friend.

"That's one thing and this is another." Morgana shot back, "I can't go to school, I can't have a job, I can't take the train on my own, and I can't…"

"Can't..?" the boy inquired as he collapsed on his bed.

"Fall in love…" the cat bashfully replied.

"Oh?" Akira said, "Have someone picked out?"

"What?!" Morgana exclaimed, "No! Certainly not! Even if I did, which I don't, I wouldn't tell you cause you wouldn't get it!"

"Eh?" Akira sat upright and looked at the cat, "and why exactly would I 'not get it' do you have some reasoning?"

` "You suck at romance!" the cat shouted back, "You've had girls practically throw themselves at you, but you were so wrapped up in being a thief that you missed all the signs!"

"I do no- wait what?" the boy gaped at this statement made by his companion.

"Yeah," Morgana answered with a touch of resentment, "You're like the protagonist of some harem show, except now everyone gave up on you because you're clueless."

Akira was silent for a little. It wasn't as if he hadn't thought about any of the girls in his life that way, but he had just assumed that no one was interested in him so he kept it to himself.

"It doesn't matter now…" Morgana sighed, "You'll figure something out eventually I'm sure, but let's just drop it now."

"Yeah, there's no use thinking about it now." Akira agreed before hitting the lights.

The two both sighed and let the thoughts about romance slip to the back of their minds before letting themselves drift off to sleep.

(********)

Here's chapter two! Another slow chapter, sorry! Look forward to the next one as we get closer to the first real arc beyond exposition. Hope you all enjoyed this one anyone and stay tuned for more!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Several days passed by with little significance. Regulars to the shop stopped by to have a cup of coffee and chat with the studious boy behind the counter. Sojiro would also occasionally would stop by and chat, but most of what he had to say was coffee bean trivia.

Rain poured down on the café as Akira cracked open a new novel he had ordered with a sigh.

"Lonely?" Morgana purred as the empty restaurant's jazz music played through the newly installed speaker behind the bar, "or are you just bored?"

"Both." Akira admitted.

Taking online classes had proven easy for the Japanese youth as he could take his own pace, but without any idea of what he should major in or pursue there was only so far he could go.

"For someone who seemed so adept at planning, you sure didn't think very far about your own future." Morgana pointed out rather crisply as he tried to incite some emotion out the boy.

Akira moved his glasses up farther on his nose before firing back, "I didn't know I'd have a future for a while there, and now that the thieves are disbanded it seems we're both out of luck."

Morgana shrunk back a little at the quick remark, "You sure don't pull any punches. Well then I guess we can use this time to figure out where we should both go in life."

"Ah true, very casual rainy day thoughts." Akira replied with a slight smile.

It was then that the rain seemed to pick up. The light drum was now less rhythmic and slightly more pounding on the rooftops.

"Hard to believe this is a spring shower and not a summer storm." The cat, er sorry, Morgana sighed.

Akira picked up the tv remote and flipped to the news channel. With miraculous luck the weather was just coming on.

"A heavy storm front is moving in and it appears as if this won't be the only one this season. In the next hour we'll be hearing from experts to see if this has to do with supposed climate change." The newscaster reported with more than a hint of boredom lying beneath his cheery façade.

"Ew." Morgana summed up in a single word.

Before Akira could respond a familiar sound chimed in his ears. He turned to see Makoto standing in the door frame drenched to the bone. He quickly retrieved a towel for her, for which she thanked him, before the two sat down in a booth.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" Akira inquired, "It's pouring outside."

Makoto hesistated for a second as if searching for a reason before replying, "I wanted a nice and quiet place to study and I'm comfortable here at Leblanc. I apologize if I'm intruding."

"Oh no not at all." The dark haired boy assured her, "I just thought that this was a little out of your way."

"Ah no not all." Makoto lied.

Before Akira could say anymore the bell rang again and he looked up to see Mishima strolling in as he set his wet umbrella aside.

"Long time no see…" The boy began before he noticed the girl sitting across from his friend, "Nijima senpai?!"

"Ah, hello Mishima kun." Makoto sighed with a slight hint of what sounded like disappointment.

"What are you doing here?" The boy asked as he stood beside the table the two sat at.

"I came here to study." The girl answered quickly.

Makoto had actually come out of her way to the coffee shop in hopes of spending time with Akira. Since he had come back there really hadn't been much time to catch up, and she felt bad for being busy her freshman year and not keeping in touch, or at least that was the underlying reason she had fabricated for herself.

"With no books?" Mishima stated with a slight tilt of his head before he seemed to grasp some piece of information out of thin air, "Oh I get it."

"Get what exactly?" Akira and Makoto asked in unison.

"Hehe it's not important Kuroba." Mishima laughed, "Can I get a cup of coffe."

"That's not an answer but sure," the boy sighed yet again, which he seemed to be doing a lot, "I was just about to fix some for Makoto.

Once everyone had placed their orders and received their drinks they all took a seat in the booth. As the rained drummed down outside the three shared recent happenings and things they had all missed while apart.

After the rain began to let up to some extent Mishima paid for his drink and left after promising to come visit again with any interesting news. The boy was as cheerful as ever as he left the two former phantom thieves alone.

"He was acting strange." Akira said after the boy had left.

"Yeah, he's still in information gathering mode." Makoto laughed, "I guess he didn't know what to do without the phantom thieves."

"Yeah…" the dark haired boy replied with a slightly awkward laugh.

"Any way, thanks for the coffee." The red-eyed girl said as she checked her watch, "Mind if I stop by again?"

"Not at all." Akira replied with a warm smile.

After that the two said their good byes before Makoto returned home. Akira waited a couple hours before flipping the sign to closed and calling it a night.

Days, weeks, and then a month passed. Makoto began frequenting Leblanc, she came most often on rainy days when, but then occasionally on others as well. Others started showing up as well. Ryuji began coming by after practice for curry and tutoring from his friend and it became an almost every day ritual for the two. Futaba had decided that she needed money so she came by Leblanc in order to dishes for an allowance from Sojiro every so often as well.

It seemed everyone came to visit, but the days Akira spent with Makoto. Just as Akira began to think about this his mind drifted off as he began to day dream about the girl. She had returned to normal life so easily that it amazed Akira. She was the opposite of how he felt, and being around her made him feel at ease. Before his thoughts could progress the sound of a bell brought him back to reality.

"Should you really be relaxing so much, aren't you supposed to be working?" the girl who had previously been occupying his thoughts jabbed playfully.

"And who is it that so frequently interrupts my work?" Akira smiled back.

"Why I never?!" Makoto mocked hurt, "and here I considered myself a patron of this café."

In the past month it seemed as if Makoto had become more and more xtroverted around Akira. Before, when the girl had taken everything so seriously, it was hard to get her to take a joke, but now she seemed to be so comfortable around Akira that she almost asked to banter.

"What kind of greeting was that anyway." The girl teased.

"I'm sorry I was expecting someone else, but I was pleasantly surprised." The dark haired barista grinned to which the girl blushed.

"Thanks…" the girl nearly whispered before following up with, "well who were you expecting?"

"Ryuji usually comes in around this time." Akira said as he moved to begin fixing Makoto's usual blend of choice.

"Oh so you didn't hear." Makoto smiled, "Ann texted me today and said that she and Ryuji would be hanging out after her photo shoot and his practice."

"You're kidding." The barista stated with genuine shock.

"Nope, and I heard that Yusuke has been dropping by Shujin to spend time with Futaba and her gaming club. He's helping with the graphics."

"That's definitely a lie."

"Honest truth. Though he's probably just doing concept art and leaving just overseeing the rest."

"You don't think…"

"I do."

"Oh my"

The two burst into laughter as their tones had grown hushed and serious while discussing the romantic relationships of their friends. Akira calmed down enough to finish fixing Makoto's coffee returning to his book as the girl enjoyed her cup in silence.

There were no words exchanged. No facts or debates that usually accompanied the nights Makoto would occasionally drop in on. The slow rhythmic jazz hung in the air like scent of coffee grounds and felt just as perfect. The sounds of the city could be distantly heard outside, but all was quiet in Yongen.

After Makoto finished the two chatted for a while. They weren't the type of conversations one would remember in detail. Just small talk exchanged between two people enjoying each other's company. As the night drew to a close they said their good byes with an embrace before the brown haired girl sped off into the night.

The next day Akira sat in the stool he had placed behind the bar. It was a Sunday and all the regulars had already come in for breakfast. The day dragged on and as the hours went by Akira grew bored. He finished yet another book and went upstairs to add it to his third shelf of finished books before he heard the voice of a young girl call.

"Sooooooo," came the voice from down stairs, "Wanna hear something interesting?"

(********)

Here's chapter three. Not much to say really. I've been slammed with work, but I decided I'm still gonna try and do this right for you guys. Content might be slow for a bit, but please stay tuned. I promise you'll like where this is going. (I Hope) As always if you have anything to say I'm all ears, and stay tuned for the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The dark-haired boy walked down the stairs. As he reached the lower floor he was greeted by a redheaded girl in a Shujin Academy uniform sitting with her head laying on the bar top. The smile she wore on her face stretched from ear to ear making her tilted expression resemble the Cheshire cat. Morgana, seeing that it was just Futaba, followed Akira downstairs and hopped up on the counter and sat down.

"Well," the girl repeated, "do you wanna know?"

"No club today?" Akira inquired.

"I skipped. Inari is mad." Futaba replied and, as if on cue, her phone rang. Without batting an eye, she declined the call and turned her phone to Do Not Disturb.

"Ah." The dark-haired barista acknowledged as he fixed the young girl a glass of iced tea.

"Anyway, that's not the point." The girl began again, but before she could continue the store's bell rang again and in walked Mishima.

"Oh? Two guests today, business is booming." Morgana teased Akira playfully.

"Kurusu, boy do I have the scoop for you." Mishima said as he sat down at the bar.

"I was here first, loner boy." Futaba glared angrily at the newcomer, "he gets to hear it from me first."

"Loner boy?!" Mishima exclaimed with more than a hint of indignation, "I'll have you know that I was the student council vice president and I had plenty of friends."

"Oh? I thought the VP just rode on the president's coattails. Pretty easy since the class president was Ann." The younger girl prodded.

Akira and Morgana sat back to watch the sparks fly as the two continued to diverge farther and farther from the news they intended to share, and closer to an ad hominem argument with no real direction or meaning. With a sigh the dark-haired barista fixed up a fresh brew of coffee for Mishima.

As the argument continued its downward spiral, Akira sat back and began reading another book. However, before the argument could reach a climax or could venture back out the exchange of insults it had become, the bell rang again as the door seemed to crash open.

Ryuji burst through the door and shouted, "You'll never believe it Akira, changes of heart are back."

An eerie silence filled the room as both Mishima and Futaba glared daggers at Ryuji before shouting in unison, "That's what we were here to tell him!"

"For real?!" Ryuji exclaimed.

Rather than arguing with the blonde-haired block head, Futaba and Mishima sighed in defeat and took a sip of their drinks. Ryuji joined them at the counter and sat down as Akira silently got Ryuji a sports drink he kept stored for when his friend came by the shop.

Morgana was the first to speak, "That's impossible. For one thing, we're the Phantom Thieves. Well, excluding Mishima that is, but other than that we destroyed the Holy Grail, and consequently Mementos."

"While I agree with you on the first two points," Futaba answered giving her own thought out solution, "We destroyed the treasure that was the Holy Grail. Normally that ends in a mental shut down, but the world is still alive. So maybe Mementos is different than a palace and wasn't destroyed when we killed Yaldabaoth, but rather since he gave us the app, according to Akira, we just lost our way in."

"She makes a good point," Akira agreed, "Mementos was like a collective unconscious of the world. There's no reason for it to disappear just because we altered everyone's perceptions to be less chained and hopeless."

"I don't get it." Ryuji put bluntly, "What I do get is that someone is goin around changing hearts again."

"Several business tycoons have come forward and confessed about their practices. Whoever is doing it is using the same Modus Operandi as the Phantom Thieves." Mishima informed the group, "The Phansite has seen more traffic recently and there's talk of calling cards being sent again."

Morgana's brow furrowed, if that was possible for a cat, as he seemed to descend into thought. Before Akira could ask him what he was thinking about, the conversation continued.

"That's totally our M.O.!" Ryuji all but shouted.

"So what are we going to do?"

Futaba was the one to ask, but all eyes were on Akira. He sat against the back counter and played with his hair as he thought. Akira's chest began to tighten as he thought about what it would mean if they could return to changing the world. He thought about his day to day life he'd been leading and about the way things were before for a few silent moments.

'Do we have the right to drag everyone else back into that life with us?' Akira inquired to his alter ego Joker.

'They're your team, ask them how they feel.' Joker answered.

"Do we want to get involved again?" Akira spoke up, "You all have your lives outside of being a thief. We disbanded…"

There was a silence that filled the room like water into the cabins of a sinking ship. It seemed to weigh everyone down, including Mishima, as they thought about what getting involved would mean.

Eventually, Futaba spoke up, "I think that we need more information before we can make a call. We can always just leave the others out of it…"

Suddenly, Akira's phone buzzed. It was Makoto. The group that had been sitting at the bar, thinking about keeping a secret from their friends, found themselves confronted with the decision immediately.

"She says she wants to hang out and is wondering if maybe I could have Futaba watch the shop for a bit." Akira answered the first unspoken question, but the next one came aloud.

"What're you gonna do?" it was Ryuji who asked this time.

"I'll let you know what I decide… I'm going to go. Can you guys watch the shop until I get back?" the dark-haired leader replied.

"Sure thing." Mishima answered receiving an accompanying nod from the others.

"Can you guys even run a coffee shop?" Morgana brought up skeptical of the part timers' competency.

"Our powers combined." Futaba answered as an odd glint appeared in her glasses.

"Thanks." Akira said hesitantly as he untied his apron.

After giving a quick refresher to Futaba on how to make the coffee, Akira left the shop and headed towards the train. Makoto had asked him to meet up in book town. As he boarded the train he thought back to the first time he'd gone to book town with Makoto. They had gone together in search of books regarding the cognitive world and cognitive psience, but ultimately, they ended up empty handed.

Makoto stood waiting outside of one of the bookstores, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Akira. Her hands had been shaking the entire time she typed the message, and her face was still red from the embarrassment of her internal debate on hitting send.

"What are you so worried about… I just asked him out to help me look for law books for my introductory classes. I mean I didn't ask him out, I asked for his help, that's all…" the nervous girl rationalized to herself.

Makoto was so deep in thought that she hadn't notice Akira arrive.

Akira thought to himself as he approached, "She really does look cute when she's concentrating…"

For that moment Akira forgot his worry and found himself captivated by the girl in front of him. The boy snuck around before tapping the girl on the shoulder opposite to where he stood and then quickly moved in front of her, making it look as if he had appeared out of nowhere.

"That was a mean trick." The red-eyed beauty huffed.

"I couldn't help myself, sorry." Akira apologized with a laugh.

"Liar." Makoto replied as she smiled at the trick played on her.

With that the two began to chat back and forth about their day, Akira omitted the meeting about the rumors, and went about shopping. The two combed through stacks upon stacks of musty texts. Books of all sizes and subjects populated every shelf.

As Makoto wandered to the back of the store she caught a glimpse of what looked like a book on her list on the top shelf. Seeing no stool in the immediate area she reached up to try to grab the book herself, but she could barely manage to grasp the bottom.

"You're going to drop it on your head, genius." sighed a voice from behind her, "Here, let me get it."

Makoto turned around just in time to see Akira move closer, but too late to move out of his way. As the boy reached up to help grab the book, Makoto found herself squeezed between the bookshelf and Akira. Once he had retrieved the book Akira lowered it to hand it to Makoto. As the dark-haired boy handed his friend the book, he finally realized how close they were. Their eyes locked for a moment, as neither made any move to change their position, causing both of their face to flush red.

"I'll go look somewhere for the others." Akira said hurriedly as he scurried off before Makoto could tell him otherwise.

Sometime later, after the sun had set and the young adults' pulses had returned to normal, they sat down on a bench outside with two bags of books.

"Thanks for helping me out." Makoto sighed in relief as she sat down with all her books, "The teacher said these were optional, but I wanted them anyway."

"They were optional?" Akira replied in utter disbelief.

"Did I not mention that?" The red-eyed girl said as she pretended to have forgot.

"Hey now," the dark-haired boy started, "there's no way you just so happened to forget to include that."

"Oops." Makoto said with her tongue half sticking out of her mouth to tease her friend.

The two laughed, once the laughter died down Makoto spoke again, "This is nice."

"Hm?" the boy replied prompting the girl to elaborate.

"This," Makoto gestured, "the whole normal life thing."

Akira's face remained unchanged as he spoke, "You don't miss being a phantom thief?"

"I can't say that I don't," Makoto began, "but I'm just as happy living day to day like this. Besides I don't have the time to go around stealing hearts anymore. Do you?"

"I can't say that I don't." Akira answered, "Not that it matters anymore. We can't go back to that world anymore."

"That's true." Makoto agreed.

The two chatted for a little while longer before parting. Makoto headed to the train station, but Akira returned to the bench and sat down to think.

"Do I miss being a thief?" Akira wondered to himself aloud, "What kind of question was that? Of course, I miss the adventures and the memories and the feeling of accomplishing something. The Phantom Thieves was my home, it was where I belonged and where I could make a difference. The Phantom Thieves was, no, it is a part of me, and I don't want anyone else using our name."

The wind gusted lightly through the, now near empty, street as Akira sat gazing at the sky above. The night sky was clear of clouds, but the light of the city washed out the stars, leaving only the moon and the city as sources of light. Time seemed to slip by as Akira contemplated what move he should make. Luckily, he managed to get himself back to the train station before the last train home left.

Akira reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. The light of the screen illuminated the resolved look on the young man's face as he opened his messaging app. After clicking a few buttons, he typed out a message.

"Let's investigate."

Then he hit send.

(…)

I'm really bad at this whole being consistent thing. To tell the truth I've been sitting on this chapter since I wrote the last one, but I actually just finished it today… which is sad. Going forward, when I do post I'll be trying to do better about my spelling and grammatical errors, but proof reading your own stuff sucks T.T

I know this chapter was definitely not worth the wait, but here's to me maybe improving as a writer this time? I do hope I'm at least being true to the characters as they were written and that my errors aren't as egregious as some others out there, but I'm not perfect so if you have the time and expertise drop me some advice.

I don't own any of these characters.


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